Blog...

A couple of weeks ago I had the lovely experience of going to a workshop run by one of England's foremost and respected abstrack artist, Patrick Jones. This was held in the amazing studio and gallery space in Appledore of ceramic artist, Sandy Brown. Both artists are expert colourist and being in the space with the work of Sandi Brown was a joy…. But I'm rushing ahead.I have taught workshops for so long now and it's been awhile since I have been an attendee of one but being in a new area I thought it's time to sign up and meet new people. The workshop, advertised through White Moose Gallery in Barnstaple was billed as a master class in colour theory so I thought it would be good to go, I love colour and am always excited to learn more about it and hear another artists manifesto..It was a strange thing to be on the other side of the painting table and I found myself being quite nervous and wondering how it would go. I packed my painting things up the day before and set them all by the door ready to go. Of course it was lovely and once we’d been handed tea in a handmade Sandi Brown mug and said our “hello’s” it was clear the day would be good. Patrick was hugely generous with his time and instruction. He gave us in many ways quite simple tasks we were to paint with two colours and to start with a red and a green that were the same tonal value but of course opposite colours. It was quite a challenge in fact to get that same value as what we wanted to achieve was the “bang” you get when two complimentary colours of the same tonal value are placed side by side. We could experiment with the other complimentary colours but I chose to stay with red and green all day. It was good to be focused and good to do something so different to my own work. I sat with him for a while after lunch and talked and he gave good advice as well as,, “don't be distracted”, “keep going”. Towards the end of the day I looked into Sandi’s ceramic studio. Colossal works being produced in a huge kiln. A very inspiring and wonderful space. Always good to learn from others and be surrounded by creatives. You can see from the photos the studio is bright and bursting with colour. Happy Days!